He's back! Dan Reiland joins us in episode 91 with a fresh, free-flowing conversation about leadership, self-care, time management, priorities, and other fun stuff. Dan has been a regular on our podcast for over a year now, and we surprised him by asking him to just riff with us about life and leadership, off script and off the cuff. He agreed. The result was an inspiring conversation that will challenge and encourage you!
We have been sitting on this episode for about six weeks. The reason? The sound quality! It was such a good conversation, but the sound quality was not what I usually get from our calls. I wasn't sure if we could use it. Then, I figured it out. I simply filtered the file to sound as though we were all talking on the phone, the telephone. Remember that long word? It is vintage and unique, a masterpiece of recording! (let's make pretend anyway...) Truthfully, it's just fine. You'll enjoy it. The best contribution Dan could ever make to your pastoral ministry, he has already provided. It is in his book titled, Amplified Leadership - Five Practices to Establish Influence, Build People, and Impact Others for a Lifetime. This book will make you a better leader and pastor and builder of others, if you read it and apply it to your ministry life. This is truly a book written and proven in the trenches of ministry. In Dan's church, 12Stone Church, near Atlanta, they use this book to establish leadership philosophy and language. This is the standard by which they talk about leadership, development, and ministry. It's also the standard for how they measure it. If there were a take-away for you, it would be to simply buy this book, study, and practice it. It will work. Enjoy episode 91! Last week I (Jeff) had an experience that reminded me that leadership is a team sport – not a solo sport. If you are a leader, I hope you’re on a team. Because when you start performing at too low of a level, you’ll need a teammate or teammates around you who can let you know, and help you to get better. My wife and I traveled from northwest Iowa to Vail, CO for a denominational gathering. Ostensibly, a retreat. Yeah. No. Not for me. It was a grueling grind. After arriving back home, and upon further research, I have discovered that experts on altitude sickness have no way of knowing who will get it and who won’t. A person’s fitness level or gender play no role in whether or not he or she gets altitude sickness.
The symptoms of altitude sickness which I developed to a severe extent were: headache, fatigue, sleeplessness, confusion, and, what one article on WebMD said “In severe cases, you do not have the energy to eat, dress yourself, or do anything.” Well I managed to eat and dress myself, but it took longer, like moving through a fog of indecisiveness. So yes, I had altitude sickness for a couple days at 8,400 feet. Traveling around we went as high as 11,400 feet. I love an adventure and I love the mountains, but they don’t love me! The crazy thing is this – I did not know why I was feeling so terribly. I knew that in the past I had not done well at high altitudes. I was nervous before we left that I would not feel well or sleep well. I even told Jonny where my life insurance papers were in my office, should I not return! Even after all that, when I was there, I thought I was handling the altitude well, but could not understand why I was completely exhausted. I thought I was just getting old. Really. I was blind to the cause of my weakness. I needed my wife to diagnose the problem. She told me. As we traveled east, and out of the mountains, she gave me some Ibuprofen and by the time we got back to 2,500 feet, I was a new man! I felt great! Sometimes as a leader, we get a little too high, and we get lightheaded. We’re short on oxygen and don’t make the best decisions. We think we’re doing okay, but we’re really not. We’re moving slower, interpreting reality differently, and not bringing an acceptable level of performance to the game. And the problem is, we don’t see it. We make excuses and defend our actions. We think it’s just a stage we’re going through. We blame failure on others. We’re blind to our weaknesses. We need someone else to step in and inform us that we’re just not getting enough oxygen, that we have altitude sickness. Who on your leadership team has the permission and authority to tell you that you have altitude sickness? Who is there around you who can tell you that you need to get to a lower altitude for a while to get better? Who has the gravitas to inform you that your performance is no longer acceptable? I am not referring to a demotion, but to getting some much needed help. My wife warned me before we went. I didn’t listen. She asked me when we were there. I didn’t hear her. I was like the proverbial frog in the kettle, as the water got to the boiling point, I didn’t know enough to jump out! Finally, she gave me a reality check and helped me understand. Now I see it! I could not see it in my fog of disorientation. All we need to do is one thing. Let’s not lead alone. Let’s give another or others the permission to help us lead. Then, when our kettle starts to warm up, someone is there to yank us out! Who’s on your team? Today and tomorrow are like leadership Christmas! It's the most wonderful time of year: Global Leadership Summit at Willow Creek! If you didn't make it to the event or a satellite, you missed out! Luckily, Jeff and I were there to glean some lessons for you! One of our favorite sessions of the day was from Patrick Lencioni, and from what Bill Hybels said, he rates among the top speakers every year!
Patrick's talk was titled "The Three Most Dangerous Mistakes Leaders Make." Here's the list: 1. They Become Leaders for the Wrong Reasons Patrick pointed out that when leaders lead for themselves, they inevitably destroy people and organizations in their wake. Patrick argued that leaders should instead lead because they believe in sacrificing themselves for others regardless of whether or not there is a "pay off" at the end. In other words, Patrick believes leadership is about others, not ourselves, and that the ultimate rewards of leadership shouldn't be expected in the here and now, but are eternal in nature. Whoa. 2. Leaders Fail to Embrace Vulnerability Patrick said the old adage, "never let them see you sweat" is garbage. People know you're sweating before you even tell them, so why deny it! Leadership is about being open and honest with people and cultivating relationships with healthy give and take. Someone in the audience asked Patrick if this was applicable for pastors as well, and his answer was kind of shocking: Pastors should be extra vulnerable! Patrick (just like Jeff!) doesn't believe people will follow a plastic pastor. Get real with people and they'll get real with you! 3. We make Leadership too important! This was... unexpected. Basically, Patrick argued that all leaders, not just pastors, had responsibilities first to their families and then to their organizations. Hearing Patrick say this was like a breath of fresh air! Instead of holding up organizational leadership as the ultimate principle, Patrick understands that good leaders lead their families first. Leading your church is not the most important thing in your life. Your family is! All in all, the Global Leadership Summit was AMAZING. If you didn't go, we would definitely recommend you register for next year! You won't be disappointed!
Jeff and Jonny absolutely LOVE recording and producing their podcast, but their greatest joy is knowing that they are providing you as a small church pastor with high octane encouragement each and every Wednesday! They have been at this for a while now, and today's episode, #80 is absolutely another grand slam with the leadership master, Dan "the Enforcer" Reiland!
(By the way, everything Dan shares in this episode, plus much more, is contained in his book, Amplified Leadership, which you can get here!) They wanted me to tell you - EAT IT UP BABY! Jonny is off on a youth trip to Colorado this week while Jeff is slaving away in his very last week of his Master's program summer session. When he finishes on Sunday night, July 27, he will be D-O-N-E. So they are having me, the 200churches Gnome, write the post for today. Jonny said to remind you that they are just two pastors, "no big fancy podcast budget" for professional transcripts and extensive and expansive links to online resources. Jeff said that you just have to listen to the episode, and take notes. "There is a wealth of leadership encouragement here for the small church pastor" he said. That's about all he said, because he was pretty grumpy I was calling him in the middle of writing a paper. (I probably shouldn't have said that?) They are going to be traveling and on vacation for the next few weeks, but they have done their work ahead of time, and recorded all the episodes through August 20th. Which, I think, is pretty impressive. I listen to podcasts for Gnomes, and a lot of these podcasts put up "best of" repeats in the summer. Not Jonny and Jeff! In the coming weeks, they have Angela, the "voice of 200churches" in the studio for an episode, Coach Dave Jacobs talking about how to become an outward focused church, Nathan Stob, for his second appearance on the podcast talking about pornography addiction, and then they did an episode with just them, talking about their passion for small church ministry - I've listened to them all, and I liked them. But then again, I'm just a Gnome. This episode is based on a blog post Dan Reiland wrote, and you can find it here. Please enjoy Episode 80 of the 200churches Podcast. And if you talk with Jeff or Jonny, tell them you liked the Gnome!
There we were--surrounded by animal heads and piles of papers and books--getting ready to start recording. And I (Jonny) gave Doug the same advice I give all of our first-time guests: "Above all else, Doug, you just have to be yourself! Lots of people pick up the mic and drop their personality. Just be you and it'll be great."
He promised to do his best and Jeff hit record. "Welcome to the 200churches podcast!" I said in my best podcast-projection voice, when all of a sudden Doug interrupts: "What happened to just be yourself!?" Honestly, if there is one person in the world I don't have to tell to be himself, it's Doug Grogan. To know Doug is to love him and we are so excited to have him featured today on the podcast. Our conversation with Doug primarily focused on the struggles that face pastors of small churches. Doug's perspective is amazing because he's been in the trenches as a small church pastor, and in his current role as the District Superintendent works primarily with pastors of 200churches. One of my favorite things that Doug talked about was putting together a support system. As pastors, we need to have people we can be real with and share our struggle with. We're not meant to be lone rangers, and Doug encourages pastors to find a support system. Another point that Doug makes repeatedly in the podcast is that pastors must practice patience. Take time, get to know people, learn the lay of the land. In other words, only fools rush in. Doug shares some great stories and examples of how patience can lead to healthier change. This is a great podcast episode that you should share with every small church pastor you know! The "view from the top" that Doug offers is invaluable to the men and women serving in a 200church, and it is truly encouraging to hear his heart for small churches. (When I was a kid, I attended a very small church. We met in a living room, a mobile home, and then a ranch style building. Today there is a larger church building on a hill at the edge of town – with oh, about 200 people attending. Imagine that.) When I was about ten years old, the church had an outing to a small amusement park in our area. I was very excited to go on the biggest ride in the park – the roller coaster. Excited that is, until I got on it and it crested the first hill! I screamed like a girl until my breath could scream no more. The entire ride found me clutching the youth leader who was next to me, screaming for him to make it stop. Big man I was. To this day I don’t like heights, and I would never go on a roller coaster. As a teenager, to impress my girlfriend, I got on one with her. I closed my eyes and screamed loudly on the inside during the ride. She never knew. I never again went on one… to this day. Ups and downs, ups and downs. Let’s see now… hmmmm, what is like a roller coaster, with all of its ups and downs?? Hey! Pick me, pick me! I know, I know! Yes, Jeffrey? Do you know? I know… “Ministry!” Very good Jeffrey! You get the gold star for knowing the right answer! Just so you know you’re not crazy, Pastor, yes, ministry is full of ups and downs! If you’ve experienced that, don’t worry, you’re normal. Just today I received both compliments and denigration, praise and criticism. Today I was both appreciated and taken advantage of. Today I was both cared for and ignored, understood and misunderstood. Today I was riding high on good things, and then hanging low in the depths of despair. Now, to be fair, today was a little extreme, but it was still just another Sunday, nothing out of the ordinary. As a pastor, you just never know. You’re ready for anything, unless you’re not! Then you get blindsided. I got blindsided today. I said I wouldn’t get blindsided anymore, but I did. I always expect the best, and many times receive the best, but people act like I act sometimes, like a person, a fallen person. I’m just like everyone else, I struggle to encourage others even as I want to be encouraged. But we keep trying, right? So, Pastor, did you ride a little bit of a roller coaster this weekend? You did? Okay, fine then, you’re normal. Tell God about it, let him love you. Tell your husband or wife and perhaps a trusted advisor or friend, and then trust God with both the good and the bad. We’re not like regular people, we’re pastors. We ride the roller coaster, and sometimes we close our eyes and scream inside, but we try not to let anyone know. Sometimes that’s good. We’re pastors, and we’ve committed our lives to making it all about others, not us. There’s good to that. Of course, stay healthy, don’t ignore your needs or your health, but it’s OK to make it about others, and just scream on the inside. J So this seems like a strange post to me, but I somehow feel like all of you pastor friends will understand. The one difference between the roller coasters I don’t ride anymore and the roller coaster that is ministry sometimes is this: I never get off the ministry roller coaster – it is my life calling. I love it. Yeah, so what, sometimes I scream. But I still love it. Wouldn’t want to do anything else. God, help us to LOVE your sheep, just like you LOVE us pastors. They are beautiful and precious to you – and we get to love them, care for them, and feed them. Thank you God. We have a fantastic podcast episode for you this Wednesday with Doug Grogan, the District Superintendent in charge of me and Jonny. Poor man. But he is a man of wisdom, humor, and grace – and has some awesomely wonderful words to share with all of us 200church pastors – this week on episode #79 of the 200churches Podcast!
We are so excited and happy to be able to offer this episode, #75, of the 200churches Podcast to all of our small church pastor friends!! Dan Reiland, Executive Pastor of 12Stone Church in Lawrenceville, GA, BRINGS THE HEAT! It's so fun to produce a podcast that small church pastors do not need to adapt to their smaller context - it's already dead on for you!
In the process of giving six thoughts about problem solving, Dan provides some priceless leadership tips that you can begin to implement... TODAY.
Here are the six simple thoughts for solving problems one at a time that Dan unpacks in this episode. I list them for your reference, but the podcast is so much better! :)
Dan mentions Robert Morris and his book, The Blessed Life: Unlocking the Rewards of Generous Living. We hope that you are encouraged, inspired, and affirmed as you listen to this episode. Your leadership, teaching, pastoral care, and oversight of your 200church is making a HUGE impact in the Kingdom of God. God loves his sheep and has given you to them to love and care for them. Enjoy it even as you assume the responsibility very seriously.
This is a great episode on leadership and how to start a new ministry! Here are some things to keep in mind as you listen, because we did not do a very good job giving out enough details on this episode - we were too excited! Here are some details to keep in mind:
Dave drills right down in this conversation on the most important things we should be thinking about and focusing on in our new church. If pastors could get this message, and understand these principles, there would be a lot more home runs on the first pitch of the ministry tenure! If you know of a fellow pastor just starting in a new church - share this episode with them! Bless them with it! They will thank you. If you want to get in touch with Dave, please connect with him through LinkedIn. Enjoy the podcast!
This episode is a special one! It features a pastor of a 200church, and two of his Deacons - the first Deacons to speak on the 200churches Podcast! We are honored!
Pastor Mark Meyers is the pastor of Grace Bible Church in Warrenton, MO. The ministry leaders with him on this episode are Tory and Steve. These guys, with their families, are part of the Grace Bible congregation, and they are also part of the leadership team at Grace. You will hear some very cool stuff from all three of these guys that will encourage you and challenge you as you lead in your 200church. Jonny and I had a blast talking with these guys, and when we were done recording, we spent some time just talking about our own church here in Iowa, and how we could integrate some of what we learned from Mark, Steve, and Tory. Rather than writing a bunch of blather (is that what our blog posts are?!) we're just going to let you listen to episode #70 yourself. Plus, here are a number of pictures of the guys in their natural habitat, doing family and doing ministry. Together. When we started 200churches, this is exactly what we envisioned - thousands of pastors being encouraged and challenged by other pastors doing ministry in the trenches just like they are. Enjoy the pictures, and thank you to Mark, Steve, and Tory! Slideshow disclaimer: some captions may have been written tongue-in-cheek!
This week on the podcast we talk with Dan Reiland about starting smart as a young leader. This episode is intentionally tilted toward YOUNG PASTORS with leadership lessons on beginning well in ministry. Jonny and I share lessons on either end of our conversation with Dan, and Dan himself shares six things that he believes young pastors need to remember to start smart in ministry.
This is a great episode to share with the young pastors or leaders in your life or ministry. This is information to help them start well in their 200church.
Here are the six suggestions from Dan about starting smart:
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